Promoter De La Hoya rips IBF for stripping Canelo Alvarez

Hours after the official word that the IBF had stripped now former Champion Canelo Alvarez of his 160 lbs. title, his promoter and legendary fighter himself, Oscar De La Hoya decided to go on the offensive.

De La Hoya (above in happier times) released a statement on behalf of Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Alvarez, blasting the governing body for refusing to allow Alvarez to continue to negotiate with their number one Contender Sergey Derevyachenko:

Oscar De La Hoya weighs in on the IBF stripping Canelo Alvarez pic.twitter.com/mUS7EHTrvf

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) August 2, 2019

The statement read in part,

“We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world’s best fighter to relinquish his world title,” De La Hoya said. “We have been in serious negotiations with Sergiy Derevyanchenko’s promoter. We offered his team an unprecedented amount of money for a fighter of his limited stature and limited popularity, but the truth is that I’m now certain they never had any intention of making a deal. But instead they wanted to force us to relinquish Canelo’s belt. This is an insult to boxing and more importantly an insult to the boxing fans of the world.”

As we wrote last night, the IBF finally “put its foot down” on their third deadline for Alvarez to come up with a deal and a date to fight the Russian for their version of the middleweight championship. They informed Alvarez and Golden Boy (De La Hoya) of that decision late Thursday afternoon.

The IBF had threatened to strip Alvarez, who won their championship when he defeated Daniel Jacobs by 12-round decision in May, with an original deadline of last Friday. They then gave a three day grace period and extended the deadline until Monday.

As the former six division World champ himself De La Hoya referenced in his response, yet another extension was granted, while the two sides tried to work out a deal for a fight later this fall, but nothing happened by Thursday afternoon.

Alvarez now is in a real quandary, as he originally wanted to fight Light Heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev later this year but that never materialized, reportedly because Kovalev wasn’t guaranteed enough money.

And DAZN streaming service, which did a 10 fight, $365 million deal with Alvarez has grown increasingly frustrated with his inability to schedule a fight for this fall. Reportedly, DAZN head, John Skipper, had relented on the network’s stance to Golden Boy and Canelo that Alvarez’s next fight after this one did not have to be against Gennady Golovkin any longer.

That fight would be the third between the two, both of which previously ended in controversial 12-round decisions. The first one to draw and the second one and narrow decision win by Alvarez last year. DAZN also has a three fight agreement with Golovkin.

It is believed the IBF will move quickly with GGG and Derevyachenko’s promoter Lou Dibella. to make a 12-round fight happen for their vacant title in October. It is also believed that if Golovkin is victorious that will give him more leverage and  set the stage with for the third fight with Alvarez in the spring of 2020.

Now, with his IBF belt gone, Canelo has apparently turned to another opiton, WBO Middleweight champ, Demetrius Andrade and possible fight with him this fall. That is, if Andrade agrees to the money and DAZN approves the opponent.

And, with the last few weeks as are reference, those two things are not assured, either.